Sambhal mosque row: Survey report of Shahi Jama Masjid submitted to UP court

Sambhal: The court commissioner on Thursday submitted in the Chandausi court a detailed survey report on Sambhal's Jama Masjid. The report, which includes videography from all angles, was compiled during the survey conducted on November 19 and November 24.

Court Commissioner Ramesh Singh Raghav, appointed as the advocate for this case by the court, told reporters after submitting the report that the survey covered the Shahi Jama Masjid in Sambhal, which has been at the centre of a legal dispute following claims that Harihar temple stood at the same location earlier.

"The survey was conducted according to the directions of the court and the complete report, including videography, has been submitted today to the Civil Judge Senior Division in a sealed envelope," Raghav explained.

The report, which is believed to run into 40 to 45 pages, has been submitted in a sealed envelope in accordance with the directives of the Supreme Court.

The case has drawn considerable attention since November 19, when the court ordered the survey of the centuries-old Mughal-era mosque. Another survey was conducted on November 24 when violence broke out.

Protesters gathered near the Shahi Jama Masjid and clashed with the security personnel. Four people were killed and several people including police personnel injured in the violence.

A case was registered against Samajwadi Party (SP) MP from Sambhal, Zia Ur Rahman, for inciting people to violence. A case of electricity theft has also been registered against him.

SP president Akhilesh Yadav accused the BJP of deliberately instigating the last month's violence in Sambhal and called it a "conspiratorial" party.

He charged that the BJP government and its chief minister have no vision. The BJP is destroying the democratic system. It misuses power. It uses the administration for its political gains, he said.

He said, "The Sambhal incident was deliberately caused by the BJP government. The administration in Sambhal killed innocent people. The administration and officials are working under pressure."

"The BJP does negative politics. It hatches conspiracies and plots to tarnish the image of opposition leaders," he alleged.

The Sambhal case centres around claims made by certain groups that a Hindu temple had existed on the site before the mosque was built. The legal proceedings and subsequent survey have sparked considerable public and political debate, with the outcome of the case eagerly awaited by many in the region.

The case lost steam when on December 12, a Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna and Justices Sanjay Kumar and K V Viswanathan restrained till further directions the courts in the country from entertaining fresh lawsuits and passing any effective interim or final orders in pending ones seeking to reclaim religious places, especially mosques and dargahs.

The Congress passed a resolution in the extended Congress Working Committee (CWC) meeting at Belagavi in Karnataka on December 26 and mentioned the Sambhal violence. It claimed that the communal tension has deliberately been stoked in Sambhal and other places for the RSS-BJP's narrow political gain.

"The Places of Worship Act, 1991 to which the Indian National Congress is firmly committed in letter and spirit has also come under needless and reckless debate," the resolution said.